Remote control circuit



Feb. 2, 1937. R* Q LANE 2,069,614

REMOTE CONTROL CIRCUIT Filed July 1l, 1931 RUSSELL, C.' HNE Patented Fel-1. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REMOTE CONTROL CIRCUIT Application July 11, 1931, Serial No. 550,179

6 Claims.

This invention relates to remote control mechanism for radio receiving instruments, and has for an object to provide for the maximum amount of remote control operation with a minimum of remote control or auxiliary mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for tuning a radio receiver to any one of a selected number of preferred stations by the operation of only a single controller.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for automatically setting the receiver to a desired tuning and coincidentally regulating the volume of the instrument output to a predetermined value.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a p-referred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

The gure is a diagrammatic illustration of an electrical circuit for a system of remote control involving the instant invention.

Referring particularly to the drawing, 20 and 2| refer to the power line by which the receiving instrument and control mechanism may be energized, and while here illustrated as consisting of a 110 volt line in connection with a transformer 22, it is readily understood that the power line may be of any other available source or magnitude preferred. It is however, immaterial whether or not the radio instrument actually receives its energization from this line, and for that reason it is not illustrated as to what the source of the said receiving instrument may be. Radio receiving instruments, practically without exception, include a tuner of one sort or another that have a rotatable shaft, suggested in the drawing by the reference character 25 and in the present instance the shaft 25 is provided with a drum, gear, disc or other similar member 26 secured thereto for driving the same.

The driving of the tuner 25 or the member 26 is accomplished by a motor 30 that may receive its energy from the power line heretofore referred to, one lead therefrom including a switch 3| urged to open position by a spring 32, and operable to a closed position by a switch closing magnet 33 whose core 34 is connected With the switch member 3|. In the illustrated embodiment, the motor 3D is indicated as being one of uni-directional rotation, as indi-cated by the arrow 35, and in consequence thereof the mo- 'tor shaft 35 is provided with a shiftable bearing 31 that is operable through the agency of a reversing magnet 38 acting upon a core 39 for shifting the shaft 36 from the spring urged position illustrated to a second driving engagement for reverse movement of the drum. In the form shown the driving pinion 40 is in engagement with an idler 4|, that is in turn in mesh with the drum 26, which driving connection is maintained by a spring 42, and is such asto drive the member 26 in the direction of the arrow 43 as illustrated. However, when the magneti 38 is energized, the pinion 40 is shifted to the said second position, or that in which it is in engagement with the member 26, and is thereby capable of driving the drum in the direction illustrated by the arrow 46.

Means are provided for closing the switch closing magnet 33, and also the reverse drive magnet 38, which means include a selector unit indicated at 50. The selector unit may have a plurality of circuit closing elements 5|, 52 and 53 for purposes that will presently appear. For the purpose of illustration these may be identified as a continuous drive control 5|, station controls 52 and manual volume control 53. The circuit closing element 5| has a direct connection 54 with the switch closing magnet 33 that is grounded at 55, and at a suitable point as at 56 the branch lead 5l is connected with the reversing magnet 38 that has a lead 58 running to a fixed Contact 59, that in certain instances is in electrical communication with a movable contact 60 carried by a snap lever 6| pivoted at 62 and grounded at |53, being operable as a circuit changer as will presently be described.

The circuit closing element 5|, also has connection with a common lead 64, to which all others of the circuit closing elements 52 and 53 are connected, and thereby connects with one terminal oi the transformer 22, that has its ground at and may be energized by the aforesaid power line. The circuit closing elements 5|, 52 and 53 may be of any desired form, as manual push buttons or other means, but at all events operate to close an electrical circuit from the source over the line 64, thence through their second branches as in the instance of the element 5I, the lead 54 with a switch closing magnet 33 and thence to ground 55. This particular circuit when thus energized, will cause the switch 3| to close energizing the motor 30 that will operate to drive the member 26 in one direction or another, until either extreme of the rotatable movement of the member 25 is reached whereupon the direction of rotation will be changed.

For determining the direction of rotation of the elements 25 and 26, the element 26 is provided with actuating pins or posts 66 and 61 that are carried into engagement with an actuator 68 for the lever 6|, so that the said lever 6| may be shifted from one position to another. This is accomplished by means of a spring 10 having an anchorage at 1| on the actuator, and thence attached to the lever 6| at 12.

'Ihese parts are so associated that when the member 26 is driven to very near the clockwise eXtreme of its rotative movement, the post 61 will engage the actuator 68 and move it to a position where it will snap past dead center from its position against the stop 69 to that against the contact 59, thus completing a circuit through the reversing magnet 38. The motor shaft 36 is thus shifted into engagement with the member 26 so that it will be driven in a counterclockwise direction until its post 66 engages the lever 68 and causes it to shift in the opposite direction. Thus, by manipulation of the continuous drive element 5|, the motor switch 3| will be closed. This causes operation or rotation ofthe member 26 in either direction, depending upon the position of the snap lever 6|, which rotation will be continued until one of the posts 66-61 actuates the lever to shift the same, whereupon the energization of the shifting magnet 38 will be changed, allowing a change of the drive connections from the motor shaft 36 to the drum 26; that naturally produces successive reversals of movement. This will continue so long as the control 5| is held closed.

For convenience of illustration the selector unit 50 has been arbitrarily divided into the portions 50a, 56h and 58e by the dotted lines appearing thereon. And it will be noted that the circuit closing element 5i is specific to the portion 50a, while the elements 52 are grouped in the portion 50h and will hereafter be known as station selectors. In the third portion 50c, there is grouped one or more miscellaneous controls as a stopstart, and a volume control, or others as one may require. All of the station selectors, or in other words all of the circuit closing elements 52, are indirectly connected with the switch closing magnet 33 by leads 13, 14 and 15, each being connected with a tripping relay 16, 11 and 18 respectively; the leads 19, and 8| of the relays connect to the conductor 54 leading to the coil of the switch closing magnet 33.

Each of the relays 16, 11 and 18 are essentially the same in construction, therefore a description of one will suffice. Each relay comprises a dielectric base 82 supporting a magnet frame member 83 to which is fixed a core 84. The member 83 has hinged to it at 85 an armature 86, carrying a movable contact 81 for cooperation with a fixed contact 88 carried byra bracket 89, the latter also being supported by the same insulator base 82. The spring connection 85 between the elements 83 and 86 tends to close the contacts 81 and 88 substantially as illustrated in the relays 11 and 18. Each core member 84 of the relay has electrically connected thereto an inductive winding that terminates outside thereof with a lead joining conductors 9|, 92 and 93 respectively, the latter being in turn attached to contacts 94, and 96. These contacts are disposed about the path of movement of the element 26, in accordance with the particular tuning setting with which they are to respond. The elements 94, 95 and 96 may be known as station contacts, and are designed to cooperate with a pointer or indexing member 91 carried by the element 26, to prevent further movement of the tuning element when the selected setting has been reached, all of which Y will appear in the following description.

Tapped off from each of the tripping circuits, and therefore specific to each station contact, there are leads 98, 99 and |00 respectively that make connection with a suitable number of turns of a volume control magnet winding |0|. The winding has its ground connection at |02, and operates upon a plunger |03 connected by linkage, or other device |04, with a variable element |05 of a rheostat, or variable resistance, |06 connected in the volume controlling circuit, the Vlatter being either in or leading to a radio receiver, as indicated at |01 and |08.

By the structure thus far described, it will be seen that the station selectors A, B and C each have a direct connection with the motor closing switch through the respective relays, and will thereby operate to drive the tuning element 25 in eitherdirection of rotation until the selected station setting has been accomplished. That is to sayv having the instrument set as is indicated in the drawing, and it being desirable to tune in any other station, such as the station responsive or corresponding, to the station contact C, the circuit closing element C would be manipulated so as to close the circuit from the transformer 22, through the conductor 64, through the control C, thence conductor 15 to the member 83 of the relay 18, and thence by the hinge 85 to the armature 86 and across the contactsl 81 and 88 to the conductor 8|, and thence joining the conductor 54 and progressing to the point 56 where connection is made with the switching magnet 33 and the reversing magnet 38. At this point current from the transformer will divide; part of it energizing the motor switch-closing magnet 33, while the remainder thereof will traverse the shifting ymagnet 38, thereby shifting the engagement of the pinion 40 from the position illustrated, to that in which it engages the drum 26, the magnet 38 completing its connection by way of the conductor 58 to the points 59 `and 60, and the snap lever 6| to gro-und 63,

whence it returns to the transformer to the ground 65.

Simultaneously with the energization of the circuit including the motor switch closing magnet 33 as described above, another circuit of substantially higher impedance is completed which branches off at armature 86, then to winding 90, conductors 93 and |00 to the volume control magnet winding |0| and to ground |02. Suflicient current traverses the latter circuit to energize the winding lill to actuate the plunger |03 which in turn causes the proper volume control adjustment to be made on rheostat |06. The current in this circuit however is insufficient to energize relay winding 90 to attract its armature 86.

The motor switch closing magnet 33 and the reverse shifting magnet 38 having been energized by actuation of the station contact C, the member 26 will be driven in a counter clockwise direction until the pointer 91 has reached the contact 96 substantially as indicated at 91a. In this position of the pointer 91 the volume control winding is short-circuited by reason of the shunt path comprising the conductor 93 connected to lead |00, Contact 96, pointer 91, member 26 and ground |09. The circuit for winding 90 of the tripping relay 18 will then be completed as follows: From the ground connection |09 and 75 the member 26 through the elements 91 and 96 to the lead 93, and then to the winding 90 of the relay 'I8 which has connection with the core 84, then to armature 86 and to the frame member 83 to conductor 15, actuated station control C, line 64, power source 22 and back to ground. Since the impedance of the circuit just traced is considerably less than the circuit having the winding IUI included therein, a low impedance path having been substituted for the high impedance of winding IDI, increased current will ow through winding 90 sufficient to attract the armature 86, resulting in the separation of the contacts 8'I and 88, substantially as illustrated in the showing of the relay 1B. Thereupon no current will ilovf from the conductor 'I5 through the lead 8I to the motor operating circuit 54, and for that reason both the magnets 33 and 38 will be deenergized. Operation of the motor will then cease and the member 26, together with the tuning device mounted on the shaft 25 will assume the position shown in the figure, which is the proper tuning position for the selected station C.

The selector unit 53 may include as one of its controls 53, a circuit closing element S connected on one side with the common conductor 54, and by a lead II, that makes connection with a start-stop mechanism III, to ground asl at Ii2. The start-stop mechanism III may be any of the conventional structures for that purpose, but is preferred to be one of the step by step character, yet it is not herein illustrated since it forms no part of this invention. Any other suitable stopping and starting mechanism may be used if preferred. Another of the controls 53 is indicated on the selector unit 5D by the letter V, and is meant to indicate vo-lume control, it having connection with the common conductor 64, and by reason of its other lead II3 connecting with the volume control mechanism I I4. The latter offers a means for manually altering the volume output of the instrument to suit the immediate desire. It is preferred that the volume control means within the unit H4 be one that is independent of the automatic volume control that is operated from the tuner 25 so that there will not be any mechanical interference, one with the other.

From the foregoing description it is seen that a provision has been made for independent and positive station selecting without regard to the order of selection both as to setting or tuning and to the volume output, and that superimposed upon this, provision is made for manually altering the station setting and the volume output thereof, according to the existing notions of the operator so that any number of stations may be easily tuned in, though not having full automatic provision for tuning to the extent provided for the desirable stations.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1.An automatic tuning arrangement for a radio receiver provided with a rotatable tuning shaft and an adjustable volume control device, said arrangement comprising a motor actuated driving means for said shaft, a source of energizing power for the motor, an electrical switch connected to said source, for connecting said motor to the power source when the switch is energized by said source, a plurality of station terminals disposed adjacent said shaft, a contactor carried by said shaft arranged for successive contact with said terminals as said shaft is rotated by the driving means, a plurality of station selector switches corresponding to said terminals, a plurality of motor tripping relays corresponding to said selector switches and terminals, means connecting each selector switch and its corresponding relay and terminal, to said source and said electrical motor switch whereby a relay disconnects said motor switch from said source upon contact of said contactor with the terminal corresponding to the latter relay, the connections between each selector switch and said motor switch being such that actuation of a selector switch renders the motor switch operative to connect the motor to said source, an electrical control for the adjustable element of said volume control device, and means connecting said last control to said relays in such a manner that said control actuates said element in a predetermined manner upon actuation of a selector switch.

2. An automatic tuning arrangement for a radio receiver provided with a rotatable tuning shaft and an adjustable volume control device, said arrangement comprising a motor actuated driving means for said shaft, a plurality of station terminals disposed adjacent said shaft, a contactor carried by said shaft arranged for successive contact with said terminals as said shaft is rotated by the driving means, a plurality of station selector switches corresponding to said terminals, a plurality of motor tripping relays corresponding to said selector switches and terminals, the connections between each selector switch and said motor being such that actuation of a selector switch renders the motor operative, an electrical control for the adjustable element of said volume control device, and means connecting said last control to said relays in such a manner that said control actuates said element in a predetermined manner upon actuation of a selector switch.

3. A radio receiver having in combination rotary tuning means, a driving shaft therefor and volume control means of the potentiometer type, an electrical drive for the shaft, a plurality of station selector buttons, a plurality of tripping devices for said drive -corresponding to said buttons, means extending between each button and the drive such that actuation of a button renders the drive operative, means extending between the drive and the tripping devices whereby the drive is rendered inoperative at a tuning shaft station position correspondng to an actuated button station, a relay for adjusting the volume control potentiometer, and connections between said tripping devices and said volume control relay for rendering the latter operative to adjust the volume of the receiver to a predetermined level as soon as the said shaft drive is rendered operative.

4. A radio receiver having in combination a rotary tuning element, a motor drive therefor, means for rendering the drive operative to adjust the element to a desired station position, means for automatically rendering the motor inoperative when the element is adjusted to said position, a volume control device including a rheostat arm, an electrical adjusting means for the volume device including a magnet winding and a movable armature connected to said rheostat arm, and means for automatically rendering the volume adjusting means operative to adjust the volume of the receiver'toa predetermined level as soon as the said motor is rendered operative. Y

5. Remote control and automatic tuning mechanism for radio receiving apparatus have ing rotary tuning means capable of movement between two limits of travel and a driving shaft therefor, comprising a motor for driving said shaft, means interposed between the motor and the driving shaft for reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft at the limits of tuning means travel, a relay and switching means for operating the reversing means, means for operating said relay switching means mounted for rotation on said shaft, a contactor mounted on said shaft and adapted to rotate therewith, a motor starting relay, a plurality of push-button station selectors, a corresponding number of tripping relays each having a pair of normally closed contacts, a corresponding number of tuning means stop-contacts adjusted to predetermined positions in the path of the contactor and each having connection to its corresponding tripping relay, corresponding ones of said tripping relay contacts being connected together and to one end of the motor starting relay Winding, the other contact of each tripping relay being connected to one terminal of the corresponding push-button selector, and a current source connected between each of the other terminals of said selectors and the other end of said motor starting relay winding, the arrangement being such that actuation of any one of said push-button selectors closes the corresponding circuit to energize the motor starting relay whereby the motor is actuated to rotate the shaft and tuning means until the contactor engages with the stop-contact of the corresponding actuated station selector whereupon tripping relay is energized to break the normally closed tripping relay contacts thereby' deenlergizing the motor starting relay.

6. Remote control and automatic tuning mechanism for radio receiving apparatus having rotary tuning means, a driving shaft therefor and volume control means of the potentiometer type, comprising a relay for adjusting the position of the potentiometer arm of the volume control, a motor for driving said shaft, a contactor mounted on the shaft and adapted to rotate therewith, a motor starting relay, a plurality of push-button station selectors, a corresponding number of tripping relays each having a pair of normally closed contacts, a corresponding numbier of tuning means stop-contacts adjusted to predetermined positions in the path of the contactor and each having connection to its corresponding tripping relay and to a predetermined position on the Volume control relay, corresponding ones of said tripping relay contacts being connected together and to one end of the motor starting relay winding, the other contact of each tripping relay being connected to one terminal of the corresponding push-button selector, and a current source connected between each of the other terminals of said selectors and the other end of said motor starting relay winding, the arrangement being such that actuation of any one of said push-button selectors simultaneously energizes the volume control relay for predetermined ad-v justment of the volume control potentiometer arm and closes the corresponding circuit to energize the motor starting relay whereby the motor is actuated to rotate the shaft and tuning means until the contactor engages with the stopcontact of the corresponding actuated station selector whereupon the tripping relay is energized to break the normally closed tripping relay contacts thereby deenergizing the motor starting relay.

RUSSELL C. LANE. 

